CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Latest on the trial of a former South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist (all times local):
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9:30 a.m.
Testimony has resumed in the trial of a white former South Carolina police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist.
State Law Enforcement Division crime scene investigator Almon Brown was on the stand undergoing cross-examination when court adjourned in Charleston on Tuesday. But the completion of his cross-examination has been delayed until Thursday because he has a medical appointment.
The first witness the prosecution called Wednesday was crime scene investigator Jamie Johnson, who also works for the division. She opened her testimony identifying evidence found at the scene of the April 2015 shooting.
Michael Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted in the slaying of 50-year-old Walter Scott. Scott was shot in the back as he ran from a traffic stop. The shooting was captured on dramatic cellphone video.
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12:45 a.m.
Defense lawyers for a white ex-patrolman from South Carolina charged in the death of a black motorist are trying to show that the state bungled the investigation.
Michael Slager is charged with murder in the April, 2015 death of Walter Scott, the motorist he shot in the back while the man fled from a traffic stop in North Charleston. A bystander recorded the shooting with a cellphone.
Almon Brown, who investigated the crime scene for the State Law Enforcement Division, returns to the stand Wednesday where he's undergoing cross-examination.
He testified Tuesday that there was only a three-hour investigation of the crime scene, that a missing probe from Slager's Taser was never found, and that the state never tested the stun gun for DNA. The defense contends Slager and Scott wrestled over the Taser.
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